Fate's Cruelty
by Andromeda-To-The-Demitria
Summary: He hadn't wanted to ruin Piper's trip. After all, she had been planning and packing for this trip since April. Looking back, Jason wished he would have let her stay, like she had begged to. But fate wished not. Hell, Jason would even have settled for skipping the meeting all together and boarding that plane right beside her. Then at least they would be together, even if in death.


**Hey, so this is completely unrelated to any of my stories, it's just a one-shot I came up with randomly! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own. Simple.**

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Life.

So short, yet so precious. It was too bad, really, that most didn't realize that until they had experienced the effects of the ending. The beginning was too sweet, too beautiful to even think about the end.

He'd told her to go. Jason had forced Piper to get on that plane to California without him.

"It will be fine," Jason had said reassuringly before she got on board.

Piper had given him a pleading look. "Jason, it can wait, really. My dad won't mind. I really want you to come with me. We can post-pone this trip for a while. Please let me stay, I don't mind!"

Jason had reached over and brushed the choppy chocolate hair out of her face, watching the tears brimming in her kaleidoscopic eyes. "Pipes, you've been planning this trip for months. I won't ruin it for you. I'll go next time, promise. I wish this meeting wouldn't have come up, I really do. But I have to go, okay?"

"Jason, please. I just want to stay with you."

"You're going to miss your flight," Jason had said. He had then leaned over and kissed her sweetly. "I love you. Have fun, okay?"

A tear had fallen from Piper's eyes. "I love you too. It just won't be the same."

Then Jason had watched her as she walked away, into the cursed plane. The one that had to wreck. The one that had killed Every. Single. Passenger. The one that had took his Piper away. Forever. The plane that belonged to the very airline he owned.

Jason could blame a lot of things. The pilot. The builders. The business meeting. The company.

But most of all, he blamed himself.

He shouldn't have forced her to go. She didn't want to anyways, if he couldn't. He had planned on going with her, to spend a week with her dad, the famous Tristan McLean, but an important business meeting had come up that Jason couldn't miss. He had to stay behind.

He didn't want to ruin Piper's trip. After all, she had been planning and packing for this trip since April, four months ago.

Looking back, Jason wished he would have let her stay, like she had begged to. But fate wished not. Hell, Jason would even have settled for skipping the meeting all together and boarding that plane right beside her. Then at least they would be together, even if in death.

Death. Jason had had experience with this entity. Too much.

Reyna was the first. His best friend throughout childhood. Diagnosed with cancer. Diagnosed too late. Too late to save her. Jason had to watch as her hair fell out and as she held on to life by a thread and died in peace after a long fight.

Dakota, Bobby, Gwen. His other best friends. All declared dead after a mass shooting.

He'd made new friends after that, forcing himself to move on. To heal. But fate had only gotten more cruel with time.

Hazel, while exploring an old cave for her job died when the cave collapsed in on her and five others.

Frank, trampled to death by elephants when he went on a safari in Africa.

Leo, his newest best friend. So dedicated to his inventions, so creative, so brilliant. Never did find love, he was so awful when it came to girls. Dead after a nearby power plant blew up.

Percy and Annabeth. Brave, valiant Percy and Annabeth. Killed as they tried to protect a deranged murderer from attacking a tourist group at the aquarium they worked at.

Odd, strange deaths. Was the world really getting this bad? Did things like this happen to everyone?

Jason didn't think so. He hadn't met a person yet who had experienced the things he had. Except for maybe Percy and Annabeth, who had known several people who had died.

Then, as if fate hadn't taken enough from Jason, Piper had gone too.

His beautiful wife of barely a year. Jason had thought that maybe things were going to get better. Maybe this was his happy ending. He had been through so much already.

Things had worked out, for a while. He and Piper had had a nice house, with a steady income. Jason owned a business, Piper had worked at a local library. They'd even discussed the possibility of future children in a year or so.

He should have known better. Fate knew no mercy. None. And Jason didn't think anything would ever get better. How could it?

He had no parents, no wife, no friends. He could care less about the airline company anymore. He never wanted to show up to work anyways, it reminded him of Piper too much. He wanted to go back in time and change everything.

Many, many funerals. Jason knew the rituals of them too well. He hated them, but he forced himself to go every time.

He could imagine his friends telling him things. "Move on, move forward in life. We're still alive, if only in your heart."

It's what they would want him to do. Start over.

But Jason had nothing left. He was done. Fate had done it's last to him.

So that's why, while standing on the edge of the cliff, looking down into the deep canyon below, Jason wondered, _Is life really worth living anymore?_


End file.
